System and method for motion estimation and mode decision for low-complexity H.264 decoder

1. A method for optimizing the selection of motion vectors and motion compensation block modules in a video encoder comprising: receiving, by the video encoder, an input video data sequence comprising at least one macroblock; identifying, by the video encoder, a target decoding complexity level for the video data sequence; determining, by the video encoder, a Lagrange multiplier for the video data sequence; for each at least one macroblock, calculating, by the video encoder, at least one motion vector for one or more block modes based on the determined Lagrange multiplier; for each at least one macroblock, selecting, by the video encoder, one of the one or more block modes based on the determined Lagrange multiplier; and encoding, by the video encoder, the received input video data sequence in accordance with the identified target decoding complexity level by applying a complexity control algorithm to produce an encoded bitstream that can be decoded with consistent complexity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received input video data is data in accordance with the H.264 standard.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received input video data is data in accordance with the MPEG-4 standard.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received input video data is data in accordance with the Motion Compensated Embedded Zero Block Coding (MC-EZBC) standard.

5. Non-transitory computer-readable media comprising a set of instructions to direct a processor to perform the steps recited in one or more of method claims 1 , 2 , 3 or 4 .

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: identifying, by the video encoder, a target data rate for the video data sequence; and wherein encoding, by the video encoder, the received input video data sequence further comprises applying a data rate control algorithm to produce the encoded bitstream at the target data rate.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the at least one motion vector comprises selecting the at least one motion vector based on an interpolation complexity.

8. An optimized video encoding system comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor and containing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the steps of: receiving an input video data sequence comprising at least one macroblock; identifying a target decoding complexity level for the video data sequence; determining a Lagrange multiplier for the video data sequence; for each at least one macroblock, calculating at least one motion vector for one or more block modes based on the determined Lagrange multiplier; for each at least one macroblock, selecting one of the one or more block modes based on the determined Lagrange multiplier; and encoding the received input video data sequence in accordance with the identified target decoding complexity level by applying a complexity control algorithm to produce an encoded bitstream that can be decoded with consistent complexity.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the received input video data sequence is data in accordance with the H.264 standard.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the received input video data sequence is data in accordance with the MPEG-4 standard.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the received input video data sequence is data in accordance with the Motion Compensated Embedded Zero Block Coding (MC-EZBC) standard.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to: identify a target data rate for the video data sequence; and encode the received input video data sequence by further applying a data rate control algorithm to produce the encoded bitstream at the target data rate.